


what do we have at the end of the day? / each other, and hope

by Demi_Fae



Series: Whumptober 2020 [17]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Prequel Trilogy, Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: Gen, Human Disaster Anakin Skywalker, Order 66, Raised a Sith Anakin Skywalker, Sith Anakin Skywalker, The Jedi Need a Hug, or a lot actually, well he was a sith but he's trying to do better
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-18
Updated: 2020-10-18
Packaged: 2021-03-08 20:40:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,300
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27072871
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Demi_Fae/pseuds/Demi_Fae
Summary: "Do you understand, Vader?" Palpatine- no, Sidious- hissed. This wasn’t the grandfatherly facade Sidious had donned to fool the Jedi, the Senate, and the public- this was who he really was, the Sith behind the mask.Anakin shook from where he was kneeling. His Master hadn’t been pleased with him ever since he’d let Kenobi escape nearly a year ago- he’d been in the med bay for weeks after that incident, recovering from what his master had done to him. He could barely walk when Sidious had sent him on another mission. Since then Anakin’s punishments for failure had been harsher and become more frequent as more and more Jedi ‘escaped’ his grasp. Anakin knew this was his last chance- leading the clones to the Jedi Temple and killing their young and their old. Or Sidious would kill him and his mother.-Day 17:Blackmail|Dirty Secret| Wrongfully Accused
Relationships: Obi-Wan Kenobi & Anakin Skywalker
Series: Whumptober 2020 [17]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1930612
Comments: 6
Kudos: 90





	what do we have at the end of the day? / each other, and hope

**Author's Note:**

> Okay, so this one is a little strange! It's only very vaguely related to blackmail and dirty secrets, but mostly it's a 'What If' of my enemies to caretaker, Raised A Sith Anakin Skywalker au [I've Got You](https://archiveofourown.org/works/26824324)
> 
> Also, apparently I just love dramatic names. For example, see above

"Do you understand, Vader?" Palpatine- no,  _ Sidious-  _ hissed. This wasn’t the grandfatherly facade Sidious had donned to fool the Jedi, the Senate, and the public- this was who he really was, the Sith behind the mask. 

Anakin shook from where he was kneeling. His Master hadn’t been pleased with him ever since he’d let Kenobi escape nearly a year ago- he’d been in the med bay for weeks after that incident, recovering from what his master had done to him. He could barely walk when Sidious had sent him on another mission. Since then Anakin’s punishments for failure had been harsher and become more frequent as more and more Jedi ‘escaped’ his grasp. Anakin knew this was his last chance- leading the clones to the Jedi Temple and killing their young and their old. Or Sidious would kill him and his mother. 

"Yes," Anakin whispered, and screamed as he was struck by another bolt of lightning. Heart ran through his veins and burned every thought from his mind as electricity coated his veins and every cell in his body with pain. "Yes- yes  _ Master, master please-" _

Sidious cackled and continued to blast Anakin as he writhed on the ground. Anakin was still shaking after Sidious stopped, his limbs twitching out of his control on the ground. 

"You know your orders," Sidious said as he turned from his apprentice on the ground. 

Anakin tried to push himself up only to fall down as his arms were too weak to support him. He panted on the floor, thankful that at least Sidious hadn't turned around again. Anakin took every last drop of will in his body and pushed himself up to his knees, then to his feet. He swayed dangerously as his vision swam in and out of focus. 

"Yes master," he said, barely able to hear himself, and left for the Temple.

* * *

When Anakin arrived at the Jedi Temple, there was no sign of anyone believing anything was wrong. There were no guards at the entrance other than the clones Sidious had sent to- invade the Temple with Anakin. 

He cringed away at the thought of the men he’d slaughtered during the war, their lights going out by his blade only fueling his own rage. Now it was different, he’d observed and even talked with some of these men. He knew them as their own people and now the chips in their brains transformed them into the slaves he and his mother had been. 

Anakin closed his eyes as he thought of his mother, alone in her rooms, with Sidious in reach. He knew she could take care of herself, had countless escape routes planned in the event of this very day, but he couldn’t help but worry. If she couldn’t make it out he wasn’t sure he wouldn’t Fall deeper into the inky blackness he’d been taught to embrace for years. 

The sounds of boots marching all around him brought him out of his reverie. He knew what was about to happen and what he had to do to protect his family. Anakin marched forward with the troops, hidden within their ranks, ready to ignite his saber and fight. 

He couldn’t turn it on. 

All he saw, every time he tried to step out and raise it against a decrepit master or youthful padawan, was his mother’s tears. Of her trying so hard to keep him in the light, and her disappointment as he Fell deeper. She’d been overwhelmed and overjoyed to see him with blue eyes after years, even if it was in the med bay after Sidious’ anger. Anakin knew she would still believe in the light within him, even if he raised his saber to murder the innocents before him. Shmi would never give up in him, never stop believing in him- 

But was it worth the pain? To disobey Sidious- to leave him, to be hunted down and captured and tortured- to defy him and be put under his thumb once more and never released into death, not even when he begged for it? When pain became normal and relief felt like acid? 

Vader had been put through that before. Anakin would not be. 

So he did not raise his saber against the Jedi, but he did not stop the men from firing either. The entire time the memory of his mother’s tears stayed in his mind. 

It wasn’t until the clones around him raised their weapons and shot a child that Anakin stopped thinking, and just let himself react.

* * *

Bail Organa landed his speeder to see three clone troopers cleaved in half by a lightsaber. 

A  _ red _ lightsaber. 

“Please,” a man with golden hair and blue eyes fell to his knees before him. Blood stained his hair and blaster bolts littered his tunics. Younglings and padawans peeked out behind his body and there was a child cradled in his arms. “Help them.” 

Bail didn’t think for a second. 

“Get in.” 

They’d figure out everything else later.

* * *

Obi-Wan wasn’t sure what he would find when he went to view the tapes in the Archives.  _ “Pain you will find, and hope,” _ Yoda had said. Obi-Wan had gone in expecting the worst, and that he had found. Their own troops attacking their Temple, their home, and firing upon all the Jedi within, the young and the old. He closed his eyes as a child who couldn’t have been older than ten was murdered before they could even scream. 

He hadn’t expected the saber that had cut the trooper in half. 

Many Jedi had fought back of course, mainly Knights and Masters. Some senior padawans joined but most were told to protect themselves, to take who they could even if it was only themselves and leave the Temple. They hadn’t been able to kill many troopers before they were shot down. Tens of Jedi, just maybe, escaped and Obi-Wan could only wish them luck in the new Empire. 

However, this saber was not the bright blue or emerald green of a Jedi, the brilliant purple of Master Windu or the shining yellow few possessed. It was the crimson of a Sith, and Obi-Wan knew immediately that it was Anakin. 

He swung his saber and bisected more clones, shielding the Jedi behind him from attack. Obi-Wan watched him shout something to them and defeat the rest of the troopers, standing above their bodies breathing heavily. Anakin ran around the halls, the wounds he gained and the bodies he left behind only increasing with every passing moment. 

Anakin ran around the entire Temple, protecting Jedi who left him to escape- until he stumbled across the younglings in the Council Chambers, about to be fired upon by a group of clones. He cut them down, his saber blurring with how fast he was moving. Obi-Wan watched as Anakin knelt and gained the trust of the younglings, leading them out of the room and the Temple, past the bodies of their family and those that had been. 

Obi-Wan realized what Yoda had meant. Their Temple had been desecrated, their people murdered within the halls of their home. The Republic had fallen and an Empire had risen in its ashes, to the applause of its people. 

But within all of this the smallest kernel of hope lived on. The Jedi, scattered across the galaxy, survived. They would have to go into hiding, cutting the braids that symbolized the bond between teacher and student, hiding the lightsabers that represented their connection and devotion to the Force and the galaxy at large. But they lived. 

And for the first time since Obi-Wan had been shot at by his commander, the one he’d trusted with his life and perhaps at one point even his heart, he cried for what they’d lost and what they might still have. 

**Author's Note:**

> This was a weird prompt because I started writing Padme's perspective on her and Anakin's marriage and was like "not whump-y enough" then went to Ahsoka's trial and played with the idea of another death fic but decided not to, and had a maybe-idea about Obi-Wan's scene of being blackmailed to meet Maul? and this popped into my head somehow so I wrote it! Even if its not totally in- line with the prompts lol- well, I guess "I Did Not See That Coming" from the Jedi's perspective is pretty in- line
> 
> You can yell at me on tumblr at [rynae-reblogs](https://www.tumblr.com/blog/rynae-reblogs)


End file.
